ATHENS, Ohio — Athens Mayor Steve Patterson withdrew the city from the Outdoor Recreation Council of Appalachia effective June 28, and resigned from the ORCA board immediately as of March 31.
ORCA is a council of governments that manages and supports the Baileys Trail System, a network in and around Chauncey that will include 88 miles of mountain biking trails once completed later this year. ORCA has also begun looking in recent years at supporting other recreation opportunities throughout the region.
Patterson told the Independent he pulled the city out of ORCA due to strategic differences with the organization.
“I have concern over what I feel is resistance to really take advantage of some revenue generating facilities to make ORCA and the Baileys sustainable over time,” he said.
Patterson said he felt that ORCA should invest the $1.5 million it received through the 2025–2026 state budget in revenue-generating facilities, such as short-term rentals located along the trail system. He said that others on the ORCA board did not share his view.
“So, it was just — it was time for me to leave,” he said.
ORCA Executive Director Jessie Powers said that ORCA’s board and staff are not “opposed to investigating” the viability of short-term rentals. “However, we just did not have the thorough analysis and planning that vetted or indicated that that was a viable sustainability solution for ORCA,” she said.
“I think moving forward, the board is in alignment on the priorities of the organization and our work,” Powers said.
According to minutes from its July 2025 meeting, ORCA discussed then how to use the state award, which was divided into two yearly $750,000 payments.
Powers told the Independent those funds “were much needed” to cover ORCA’s operating costs.
She said the $1.5 million will “advance those projects that already have board alignment, funders expecting those deliverables” and support “the staff that are actually ensuring the work is done and the obligations of the organization are met.”
Council member Alan Swank, 3rd Ward, was not aware of Patterson’s resignation when the Independent spoke with him Wednesday morning.
Council member Jessica Thomas, At Large, said in an email that she was unaware that the mayor intended to withdraw from ORCA and declined to comment on the matter.
Other council members did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
The city first became an ORCA member in 2019, through Ordinance 110-19. At that time, the city was set to provide $90,000 annually to ORCA through 2040, using funds from its Transient Guest Tax.
Athens City Council began discussing cutting back on the city’s financial support for ORCA two years ago, near the same time Athens County declined to renew its ORCA membership, citing budget constraints.
In December 2024, the council adopted an ordinance to pay $25,000 in ORCA dues, but only if certain budgetary requirements were met. The city ultimately reduced its financial support for ORCA to $1,000. An amount that small “is handled in the budget planning and by the administration and would not come before council,” council member Thomas said in an email.
Powers said the city of Athens helped make the Baileys Trail System possible, but that she expects ORCA to carry on just fine without the city’s involvement.
“Without the City of Athens’ support, I’m not certain there would be a Bailey’s Trail System,” Powers said. “They’re been a critical member and partner for many years, and they will continue to be so. Just [the loss of] membership on the council of governments board does not mean that the staff of the Baileys Trail System will be separated from the City of Athens or its people.”
“We had kind of a similar instance with the county,” she said. “This work transcends people and is really about ensuring that the people in this region have access to high quality of life and economic opportunity that as Americans, we all hope we have access to.”
